BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 285
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Date of Hearing: May 20, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
285 (Gallagher) - As Amended April 23, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
Yes
SUMMARY:
This bill makes minor changes to the laws governing the
registration of legal document assistants (LDAs). Specifically,
this bill:
AB 285
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1)Repeals the requirement that a registered LDA must display the
expiration date of his or her registration on printed
solicitation, papers, documents, and other printed materials,
but does require the expiration date continue to appear on the
written contracts required to be provided to a client, as well
as on any website maintained by the LDA and in any
solicitation, advertisement, document, or correspondence
prepared or used by the LDA in electronic form.
2)Requires the county clerk to assign the same number upon
renewal of registration to each legal document assistant (LDA)
or unlawful detainer assistant (UDA) instead of requiring a
new number to be assigned in the event of a lapse in the
period of registration.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Any additional costs to county clerks should be minor and
absorbable.
COMMENTS:
1)Background. LDAs provide legal document preparation and
self-help services to the public within defined parameters.
LDAs may not provide any self-help service for compensation,
unless registered in the county of their principal place of
business, and any other county in which they serve clients.
The term "self-help services" defines the activities that
registered LDAs are specifically authorized to perform, which
include completing legal documents in a ministerial manner and
making published legal documents available to a person who is
representing himself or herself in a legal matter.
AB 285
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2)Purpose. This bill, sponsored by the California Association of
Legal Document Assistants (CALDA), seeks modest changes to
laws regarding the registration of LDAs, particularly
disclosure rules that require LDAs to display certain
registration information on all of their business materials
and documents. First, the bill repeals the requirement that a
registered LDA must display the expiration date of his or her
registration on printed solicitation, papers, documents, and
other printed materials, with exception of the written
contract for services that must be provided to each client, as
well as on any website maintained by the LDA and documents,
correspondence or materials that are in electronic rather than
printed form. Second, the bill would allow LDAs to keep the
same registration number after periods of non-renewal.
Proponents, including the National Federation of Independent
Businesses (NFIB), contend that both changes are needed to
reduce unnecessary cost burdens on LDAs, namely, by forcing
them to regularly purchase new written materials and discard
old materials whenever an expiration date or registration
number changes.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081